Heat is a Killer: How To Keep Your Dog Hydrated While Training

Summer isn’t technically here yet, but the daytime high temperatures for my part of Oklahoma are beginning to approach cake-baking levels. That means all my dog training has shifted to an early-morning and late-evening schedule, for my comfort as well as the dogs’ safety.

Heat is a killer, so as you train your dogs in the summer months, make sure they stay cool and well-hydrated. How important is water? In terms of safety and health, a whole lot more important than food, actually. A dog can lose 50 percent of his muscle and body fat, but if that same dog loses 10 percent of his water, he can die. Eighty percent of a dog is water, so in an average 50-pound dog, fully 40 pounds of that is water.

– An average 50lb. housedog needs about five cups of water a day, but with active dogs that jumps up to 12 cups.

– A housedog loses about 23 percent moisture from respiration and 70 percent from urine, while a hunting dog can lose up to 40 percent form respiration, five percent from feces and 55 percent from urine.